Gab Bonghi

Staff Writer

With major arguments being made this week over the Defense of Marriage Act, gay rights have been a hot topic. And with all hot topics come some kind of social media trend. What’s caught on quite a bit over the interwebz is that red-and-pink equal sign, thanks to the Human Rights Campaign.

Look at your list of friends or scroll down your Twitter feed. I’m certain it will pop up in some way, shape or form. Some companies, like Fab.com, have even gone so far as to customize their own.

I love seeing all of this love and support for something that’s absolutely worth fighting for, but what are we actually achieving here? Look, it’s an easy way to show you stand your ground of favoring marriage equality but it doesn’t carry enough weight to flip anyone’s decision. In fact, I think it’s pretty lazy. Do you think any of these old heads in Supreme Court have Facebook? NO! It’s as effective as slapping another bumper sticker on your Honda Hybrid. It’s essentially, a fashion statement.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m in full support of showing my gay brothers and sisters that I’m fighting the fight with them, but the only way to get anything done around this country is to jump into action!

Here is what you can do to make an active difference:

Visit a gay rights website and donate – the more money you give to a cause, the closer gay citizens get to having the same rights and opportunities as the rest of America.

Make people uncomfortable – pressure your conservative friends and relatives with reasonable questions and topics on the issue. They most likely with retort with a quote from the Bible, but as Mr. Anti-Liberal himself, Bill O’Reilly, said, that’s just not good enough.

E-mail your senator – actually have your voice heard. Tell them you want marriage equality and you want it now!